I heard the start of Gerry Brownlee’s interview on Nine till Noon this morning and didn’t last two minutes before I had to go and slam doors. The ‘I know what’s going to happen. It’s blindingly obvious. But I’m not telling you’ line is driving me up the wall (and across the ceiling….) and I don’t even live on the eastern side. If he (and JK) can’t say anything helpful can they pleasefortheloveofpete just shut up. (Sorry to be blunt. I’m feeling pretty rattled today and am all out of tolerance…)

The point Brownlee was trying to make was that the general areas are obvious but the exact boundaries are uncertain at this point. This tallies completely with my own observations in Avonside that some areas of the suburb are extremely badly damaged, but there are also small groups of houses within these areas that are entirely fine.

For example, we have a brick house two doors away that only has a few cosmetic cracks in the interior plaster. No lateral spreading or subsidence or sand ejecta on (or near) the property at all. Someone has to make a very well-reasoned decision whether they’re going to kick a homeowner off a section+house such as this that is completely undamaged.

To put it another way: there has to be some very careful drawing of lines on maps – and it may not be a good idea to jog the draughtsman’s elbow by rushing him/her.

But I totally agree that Key’s ill-advised comments have made the situation much worse and caused unnecessary stress to lots of people.

The largest movement was 0.20m horizontally and 0.10m vertically at a mark close to the fault, just to the south of the city.

In other words, the bulk vertical movement appears to be less than 10 cm. So rumours that the whole of East Christchurch has sunk into the sea are greatly exaggerated. I also note that Mark Quigley stated on Campbell that these faults have not experienced previous earthquakes for thousands of years. So there is no particular reason to think that they will not restabilize in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future.

[the] chassis idea has merit compared to putting down 9m(!!) piles under a “simple” house as I saw on tele the other night

I checked out the added cost of “deep” piles and it’s actually only about $20,000 more for a typical house repiling (in the case where you have to slide the house out of the way, as most of them will be). But there seems to be a some doubt as to whether they actually work or not – particularly in the context of lateral spreading.

I hope that when the Govt gets around to buying up all the tracts of land where owners decided to shift out and make the best of it somewhere else, that the “redistribution” of the property to the next wave of developers and landlords is done in a fair and equitable manner that is clear and open...

You’d still need viable area resources like roading and drainage though, regardless of whether individual properties are OK. Could always ask devoted libertarians to live in em I guess.

This is true-ish to a certain extent. But it has to be said that most old houses round here already have their own bores for fresh water and soak pits for grey water. And even if the road is removed you still have river and towpath access. If you have a composting toilet and (in the very unlikely case that electrical services cannot be provided) solar panels + (backup) genset then you could still live here quite easily. I know that some quite normal people are keen to do just that.

Don't forget that, as it stands under the EQC regulations, my neighbour (if forced to move from his undamaged house + section) will not be fully compensated for his land. By my calculations he'd be short more than $100,000.

The Press this morning has some bad news on this:

It is understood the Government will seek to remove even lightly damaged houses in some areas where wastewater and other services cannot be maintained, where the land cannot be built on or where most houses must be removed.

But the same article also has some amazingly excellent news for those affected (if the report is correct):

The package is expected to bring together EQC and private insurance compensation for those whose home or land is no longer viable, with a Government top-up to preserve the equity homeowners had on September 3, 2010, before the first quake.

Oh, fuck off. Could he have done or said anything that would have satisfied you? Perhaps he should have just refused to answer a pretty direct question at all, but let’s not pretend it wouldn’t have been greeted with “Well, there goes Mr. Rich Prick Smile-And-Wave who doesn’t give a shit about anything other than election year photo ops.”

Maybe – just maybe – and whatever you think of the incumbent government – it would be even more epic ass-hollery if Key and Brownlee had pulled a list of suburbs to be abandoned out of their arses. There are going to be a lot of people who have no good options ahead of them; but it’s much easier to make good decisions when you have good information from people who are looking a little further (and deeper) than the next news cycle.

I heard the start of Gerry Brownlee’s interview on Nine till Noon this morning and didn’t last two minutes before I had to go and slam doors. The ‘I know what’s going to happen. It’s blindingly obvious

Same here.

The thing that’s really starting to piss me off is the tone and language of irritation, exasperation, superiority he and his pals are using to and about people in Chch who are asking for information or presenting their own informed POV – which is just like how they talk to / about the “beneficiaries”: ‘look, we know what you want and you’ll count yourself lucky to get what we decide you’ll be allowed to have when we we decide it’s appropriate to tell you … in the mean time stop your bleating …’

The arrogance and hostility just contained within a phrase like "blindingly obvious" is breath-taking and outrageous.

Key often makes quotable remarks on the road because he hasn't been primed for the exact question; a hack's dream when it comes to a story. He's got that bit of trader mongrel about him still that surfaces occasionally. Because he's a quick study he gets the official announcements and speeches bits word-perfect, and they are verrry carefully crafted pieces of work.

As a possibly affected homeowner -- we are liveable and repairable but on the fringes of a heavily liquifucked (again) few blocks and near the Heathcote river, I want the govt to get it right. A one-stop package will ultimately, no matter how long it takes, give us all one bit of near-certainty in our lives when you can't rely on anything physical in the world. And many people here are hanging out for that.

But my day started well: a logburner arrived and is now sitting in the living room waiting to be installed (into another who-knows-how-long queue). Thank you EQC, Gerry, John, Roger and Fletchers EQR who have all made it happen!

This is true-ish to a certain extent. But it has to be said that most old houses round here already have their own bores for fresh water and soak pits for grey water. And even if the road is removed you still have river and towpath access. If you have a composting toilet and (in the very unlikely case that electrical services cannot be provided) solar panels + (backup) genset then you could still live here quite easily. I know that some quite normal people are keen to do just that.

A friend of mine who woks on the EQC claim processing team, which I’d summarize thus…

There aren’t as many staff processing claims as you think there are, they aren’t paid as much as you think they are, they all have broken homes and earthquake-stress here in Christchurch of their own and they also suffer threats and abuse from claimaints.

Hey, just reporting what some of the feistier neighbours are saying. I can see where they’re coming from, actually – it’s a horrible step from the cosy inner-city riverside to the battery-hen like new suburbs in the hinterland.

As for myself, as I said before, they won’t get me out of here except in handcuffs --or, alternatively (and I may not've explicitly mentioned this before), if they cut off my access to sewerage, water, and electricity.

Given the amount of attention this has started receiving my friend (who is not allowed to speak to the media and thus could be at risk of losing her job) has asked that I remove her comments from the link above.

I summarise thus:

There aren't as many staff processing claims as you think there are, they aren't paid as much as you think they are, they all have broken homes and earthquake-stress here in Christchurch of their own and they also suffer threats and abuse from claimaints.

Snakes and Leaders...I had wondered why the more "blindingly obvious" disaster sites - say a cluster of houses or somesuch - couldn't have been acted on more quickly and people allowed to move on - but from what Brownlee was saying last night on telly, it seems the Government's main concern is with making everything legally incontestable one-size-fits-all style ...

Checkers draughted in...

There aren’t as many staff processing claims as you think there are, they aren’t paid as much as you think they are...

...but there is a crack squad of claim checkers (well at least two people) out there doing random spot checks on finished claims to see that the reality tallies with the paperwork... a sad indictment of our times...

Claggy silt-shifting tippeople are probably doing this...but I find if ya line the wheel barrow with a plastic sheet, or cut open rubbish bag or similar intermediary boundary, then shovel in silt - then tip the whole lot out and peel off the plastic sheet replace in barrow - repeat as many times as needed...

No Craig. You told Rob to fuck off when he identified Key's comments as ass-holery.

Key's comments had no specific detail, they were not backed up with fact or evidence AND they caused considerable stress to many who heard them.

In short Key was playing to the next news cycle. And in doing so he was doing considerable harm. I can see why you'd be unwilling to try and rebut that.

Yes I know you've been critical of Key in the past but leaping to his defense in this case is wrong. He was not reflecting a deeper understanding of the situation nor demonstrating his wisdom as a leader.

Moreover, telling Rob to "fuck off" as your entry into the conversation is less than helpful in a thread that is meant to be about being less useless than we all currently feel.